


The Raven and the Peacock

by TroubledBubble



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Blood and Injury, Denial of Feelings, Developing Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Rakan loves chocolate, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:28:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23801572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TroubledBubble/pseuds/TroubledBubble
Summary: Life for the birds before Wild Magic.
Relationships: Rakan/Xayah (League of Legends)
Kudos: 14





	The Raven and the Peacock

**Author's Note:**

> We’re back!!! 
> 
> I know the re-writing of The Raven and the Peacock was super sudden and honestly just a quick shot that I took, but I promise you it will be worth it!
> 
> I can’t promise super frequent updates since I work now and school is also in the mix still, but I have tons of notes and somewhat planned out chapters for the entire story already!
> 
> I won’t stop you from going back and reading the original story, but it is pretty bad compared to my expectations for this one.
> 
> Regardless, I hope you all enjoy! 
> 
> Please don’t forgot to leave kudos and comment below any ideas/your thoughts! 
> 
> Love you guys!!!! <3

Gentle taps echo throughout the dimly lit tent, followed by multiple weary groans and frustrated sighs.   


Xayah currently sat on her bedroll, rough paper on her lap and a quill in her hand.   


She was trying to map out the perimeter of the village she scouted earlier today, her current exhaustion becoming a task that she was angrily trying to work around.  _ How many days - maybe weeks, had it been since she got decent sleep? 3, possibly 4? _

Finally, with one last sloppy stroke, her map was finished. She threw herself back slightly, the blanket under her ruffling slightly at the sudden movement. She had been so concentrated in getting the map done that she had barely moved a muscle aside from tracing the paths.   


Her eyes burned and her stomach ached due to lack of food, causing her to rub her eyes and sigh. It had been a rough few weeks, the chill of fall slowly approaching and dragging out the threat of any available food in the area being hunted by humans to feed themselves during the winter months.   


She had a few berries and some meat left from months ago, but she was saving those for dire situations. It was beginning to look like she’d need to use them soon with her luck lately.

Shaking her head to get out of that state of mind in hopes of not increasing her hunger, she takes a second to stretch out her legs and arms, a dull popping noise sounding as she did.   


She thought of what tomorrow would bring, how much blood would be shed. She couldn’t deny the slight tingle that sparked within her as she thought of her feathers impaling some filthy human. She also didn’t want to draw much attention to her here however, since she would be traveling through for a week or two to get to her destination after she took care of what needed to be done here.   


With another sigh, she looks down towards her map, her eyes scanning over the line she had made.   
  


Prior to scouting the village, she had traveled all the way from the Kinkou region to Vlonqo on little snippets of sleep. She would’ve slept more, but she had to travel close to human territories with the trail that she mapped out. Sleep was definitely calling to her right now, and there was no doubt that the second her head landed on the folded blankets she used to form a pillow that she would be out. 

Rubbing her hands over her face with a soft groan, she reached over towards her oil lamp that sat close to her left. She turns the lamp off, grabbing her small comb that sat next to the lamp and pulls her hair loose, closing her eyes and re-forming her dark purple sundress into a soft white nightgown. 

She opens her eyes and gently begins to comb out her hair, leaving it flowing loosely behind her in soft waves.   


Setting the comb down next to her, she reaches her left hand behind her and brings her plumage in view, scanning over it to check for any fringe, then gently and slowly begins to preen her feathers. This was a routine that she had developed with her tribe when she was younger. Dirty and unstraightened feathers were uncomfortable.   


After a few minutes, she gets to the final feather. With one last sigh and a quick stretch, she sets the comb back by the lamp and lays down, almost instantly falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

_ Straight through the main path of the village and then down the dirt alley way that connects to the tavern. It’s pretty much a straight shot in and out. _ Xayah thinks to herself as she studies her map one final time. Putting the map away in her sack, she takes a glance around then begins to run.

She was in a small forest that led towards her destination, out of sight from the main trails where people would enter normally. There was an unguarded opening towards the back of the village, which would be her entry point. As long as she got in without being noticed, she should be fine. 

Just before getting to the opening, she pulls the hood of her dark grey cloak over her head, mainly to hide her ears and as much of her face as possible. She checked her feet wrappings and kicked the end of the cloak loose so that it was just barely touching the dirt, hiding the majority of her bird-like feet and claws. 

Running up to the opening, she peers past it slightly, the opening only being a slight chunk missing in the brick wall that surrounded the village. Seeing no one around, she gently squeezes herself through, easily making her way inside without much trouble. The opening led through a small alley between two larger buildings, which leads into a small dirt path that leads to the main stone pathing of the village centre. 

Starting her walk down the dirt path, she can’t help but finally pick up on the sounds that lurked just around the corner from her. This village was relatively large, so she wouldn’t be surprised if it was crowded. It made her job easier, but it definitely wasn’t something she enjoyed.

Finally making her way into the village centre, she glances around, humans wandering everywhere with items in their arms and smiles on their faces. She watches as some hold hands, where some watch as others pass by, observing. Beginning to walk, she lets her eyes roam on others for more than she would usually. No one cared to glance towards her, at least not enough to get suspicious about her appearance. 

She had time to waste, so she continued to walk around for a while, observing each human's movements, occasionally getting a glance or two towards her but for the most part she was ignored, thankfully.

As she turns a corner, she notices a crowd surrounding what appears to be a stage. Assuming it's just another one of those performances that these humans consider entertainment, she continues walking past them.

That is, until she hears a familiar melody. Whoever was currently up there was singing a song of her people, specifically one of two lovers traveling the world together. Regretfully, she takes a slight step in the crowd and looks up towards the stage, golden and green quickly catching her eyes. 

There was another avian performing, clearly attempting to attract the attention of the humans around. Probably trying to charm one of them into a night with him, she scoffs. 

His talons tapped rhythmically with his voice, occasionally crooning with a wink to the females closest to him. He was turning a deep story of their people into a pick-up.  _ What a buffoon _ .

After a few minutes, she shakes her head and glances towards the sky. The sun was beginning to set, she needed to make her move now. Without a second glance, she leaves the crowd and the bird on stage and makes her way towards the alley.

After traveling a fair distance from the center of the village and finding the tavern, Xayah makes her way down the dirt alley and around the back of a few tall buildings. From what she remembered, there was a small gap about 48 paces from the end of the dirt alley that led to another opening in a run-down building. If she made her way through the building and out the back, her target was right around the corner from there.

Following her map that she had for the most part memorized, she arrived at a fairly large brick building, hidden from the sight of people who didn’t dare to travel past the buildings that lined the pathways. She was still a fair distance from the building, mainly because there were a few guards chatting away right by the main entrance.

Hugging the side of the building she just came out of, she makes her way around it and to a line of large nails that hung from the old bricks all the way to the roof, probably from old decorations that were long gone. Slowly grabbing onto the nails, she tugged slightly to make sure they were secure enough to hold her weight while she climbed. Thankfully they were, and so she slowly climbed up, being as quiet as possible. 

Getting to the final nail, she rests her talon on it and leaps to the roof just as the nail breaks loose from the building, causing a few pieces of brick to fall with it to the ground, making a clashing noise. Cursing under her breath, she quickly runs and lays down flat on the roof, hiding from sight just as the guards from before rush over. 

Letting out a silent sigh, she slowly crawls towards the edge of the roof. Taking a second to glance down, she sees the guards searching around the area in an attempt to find the cause of the nail falling. Once they were out of sight, she leapt across onto the other buildings roof, and takes a moment to breathe. Looking around, she spots a vent going into the building. Kneeling down, she quietly takes the metal vent cover off, setting it down to the side. The hole was big enough for her to fit without her cloak, which wouldn’t be much of a problem anymore. Hooking one of her fingers in the neck of the cloak, she drags it down, ripping the material in the process, causing the magic that formed it to vanish into the air.

She begins to crawl through the vent slowly, peaking through other covers that led to other rooms as she passed over them. Most of the rooms held large boxes, along with some people unpacking a few of the boxes. There was a brand on the side of the boxes that she didn’t recognize, and she didn’t really care much to bother with it. After passing quite a few other rooms, she finally reaches the end and looks down into the final room, her eyes met with various artifacts and ancient-looking items littered about.

Quietly, she takes the cover off of the vent and drops down into the room. Looking around now, the door is sealed from the outside, so she’ll probably have to use a box to help her get back out through the vent. 

She begins to walk around the room, searching for her item. She gently traced her fingers over a few crystals that sat on a dusty shelf, the crystals glowing slightly as she did. There had to be hundreds of things in here, some that looked freshly placed and others that looked like they had been here for ages. It made her wonder if they even bothered to care for these items with all of the dust that was in the room. 

After looking over many items, a small flash from a far corner caught her attention. Walking towards where the flash came from, she found a more neat and cared for shelf that held dozens of pendants and jewelry. Scanning over them, her eye catches one that looks vaguely familiar. She sets down her sack and opens it, taking out a small, aged journal that had many papers sticking out from it, and a feather. She opens the journey to where the feather is and takes out a small drawing of the amulet she was looking for. She takes the drawing and holds it up next to the amulet on the shelf, and immediately sees the resemblance. She puts the drawing back in the journal and grabs a small piece of cloth from her sack, taking the amulet off of the shelf and gently wrapping the cloth around it. She sets the amulet in her sack, along with her journal and stands up, tossing the sack over her shoulder.

She walks towards a tall box that was slightly too far left for her to use to get back into the vent, so she goes to the other side and pushes it. Her ears flicker as she hears quick steps outside of the room, along with some frantic talking. She quickly climbs on top of the box and jumps into the vent right before she hears the door to the room unseal and open. 

She quickly makes her way through the vent and outside of the building, leaping down from the roof and swiftly landing on her talons. 

"Hey! Stop her!" Someone yells, which was her queue to run. She passes the stage, noticing a flash of gold out of the corner of her eye, but she ignores it and picks up her pace. This was no time for distractions.

As she enters the forest, she takes a moment to catch her breath and celebrate a silent victory. Her mind flashes to the flash of gold and instantly becomes filled with images of the golden bird that was on the stage. She still hears his soft songs and more images of his gently yet precise dance.

Quickly, she shook her head, getting out of the daze she had accidental fallen into. She shouldn't be thinking about that buffoon, especially a buffoon who dances for humans. But even after snapping out of her thoughts, she couldn't help but feel a slight throb in her chest when she thought of the golden performer.

Sighing, she tries to begin walking, but didn't realize she had become surrounded by three men, merchants from what she could tell. They were each wearing somewhat torn clothing, but all had different colored shirts. The middle guy has a red shirt, the guy to the left of red has a blue shirt, and the one to the left of red has a white shirt. They probably saw her feathers as she was running from the guards and followed her out here.

“Well well, what do we have here lads? She’s got some pretty little feathers on her, doesn’t she? Probably be worth a fortune.” Red laughs out, a knife in his left hand and his buddies cross armed on either side of him, smirking down at her.

“Might as well have some fun while we’re at it, eh?” Red flips the knife in his hand, slowly walking up to her.

Blue and white charge at her, both grabbing one of her arms and pinning her to the ground, smirks still worn on their faces. She struggles to get free, but they wouldn’t budge, even after they received many scratches from her talons. Red walls up, giving the knife to white, who uses one of his hands to hold the knife against her throat. 

She continues to struggle, kicking her talons only for one of them to slice across Reds face, making him angry. 

“Now now little bird, that wasn’t very nice.” Red says, running his fingers across the fresh cut on his cheek. “If you won’t play nice, then neither will we.” He signals towards White, who lifts the knife to Xayahs cheek and slowly drags it across, leaving a deeper, longer gash. She cries out, kicking even more, making Red pin down her legs.

Red roughly tears the bottom of Xayahs dress, exposing her undergarments and making her cry out louder. Blue uses his free hand to put over her mouth while White slowly continues to leave cuts on her face. 

Tears run down her face, but she doesn’t stop her struggle, breathing heavily. She feels a burning sensation, causing her to scream and kick harder than she had previously. Reds hands move away from her legs, giving her an opportunity. She quickly kicks outwards, straight into Reds exposed groin, and watches as he falls back, crying out in pain. 

“You piece of shit! Kill her!” Red cries out, holding a hand over his area and making groans of pain. 

White glares at Xayah and moves the knife back down to her throat. She closes her eyes, readying herself for the approaching pain. It nearly touches before she even notices the lack of pressure on her arms. 

More groans sound around her, causing her to open her eyes. Blue and White are once again by Reds side, but this time all three of them are sprawled out on the forest floor, dirt and blood covering their faces. 

She quickly pushes herself up, and inspects her body for any major injuries. Thankfully, nothing happened to her aside from the cuts on her face and burning which was still present. A shuffling sound to her left quickly causes her to summon a handful of daggers and aiming them towards the movement. 

“Woah, woah! I’m not gonna hurt you!”

Without lowering her daggers, she looks towards whoever it is, only to be met with a familiar glow of golden and green, hands raised in the air. She glares at him, keeping the daggers pointed at him.

“What do you want? If you think stopping those men will get me in a bed with you then you should’ve just let them kill me.” she stared bitterly, deepening her glare. “Go back to the village if that’s what you’re here for. I’m uninterested in your idiotic games.”

A frown appears on the golden birds face, “No, no, no! You’ve got it all wrong. You see I-,” 

“I don’t care!” Xayah cries out, gritting her teeth as she throws her daggers around past, all three getting implanted in a straight line in the tree behind him. 

She takes a deep breath and sighs, looking at the ground for a second then back up towards the golden bird, “As much as I hate to say it, thank you for saving me.” she chokes out.

She wasn’t strong enough, she couldn’t defend herself. Her father would see her as a fool right now, having to be saved by a stranger. She knew she was better than this, yet the shame and disappointment that filled her only beat her down.

“You don’t have to apologize.” he says, catching her off guard, “after all, I can never resist an invitation to dance.” he smirks, sending a slight wink towards her. 

She stands for a moment, not exactly knowing how to respond. So instead of saying anything, she just glares at him and glances back at her sack, making sure it was still in one piece and secure. She’s lucky they didn’t bother to try and take it, but she knew they only wanted her for her feathers and for their own pleasure. 

Looking up, she notices how dark it had gotten. Stars littered the sky and the moon shined brightly down upon her. She needed to move now or else she wouldn’t be back by her estimated date. Without saying another word, she begins to walk away. 

“Hey, wait!” he calls out to her and begins to run after her, but she just ignores him and continues to walk, “I- uh.. hold on!” 

She growls under her breath and stops, “What do you want now?! I told you already to go away!” she shouts angrily and stops walking, causing him to come to a quick stop as he makes it to her. 

He takes a deep breath, “Wow! You sure do-“ he pants, “-walk fast.” he breathes out, “Where are you heading, and why were you in this village? I’ve never seen you in these parts before.” he asks curiously.

“Why should I tell you?” she says venomly as she clenches her fists.

“Well I- uh, because I-“

She cuts him off by turning around to face him with a glare, her expression showing that she was getting impatient. 

“-I want to come with you! I want to protect you - I mean I want to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again!” he says, looking into her eyes.

She huffs and turns back around, beginning to walk again as her anger rises.

“Wait! I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant that I want to be your travel partner! Come on, it’ll be fun!” he calls out with a slight smile, although the desperation was clear in his voice.

She stops again, letting out a sigh and rubbing one of her hands against her temple.

“I’m going to a tribe towards the North. I promised them I’d be back within a week, two weeks ago. It takes about 5 days of travel with minimal rest. If you like to sleep in, then you better head back now, because I won’t be dragged around by some insufferable buffoon.” she states harshly, “I’m only giving you this chance because we can get there faster if the two of us can gather supplies and set up temporary shelters.”

A smile spreads across the golden birds face and he punches the air. After his quick celebration, he calls out, "Regardless, I was going to start heading that way soon!” 

Xayah takes a moment to think. She had been traveling alone for many years. No one has ever asked to travel with her, and saying she was already regretting this was an understatement. She turns around and looks into the eyes of the golden bird again.

“-by the way, what’s your name? Oh, wait! I’ll go first. I’m Rakan, battle dancer of Lhotlan.” he says excitedly with a bow, a smirk appearing on his face. 

"Xayah." she says flatly. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Xayah.” Rakan winks with a smirk.

“Call me that again, and you’ll be wishing you were back in the village right now.” Xayah says, glaring at him intensely.

He lets out a laugh, but it slowly fades into an unsure one as she doesn’t drop her death glare. 

“Uh- you got it!” he spits out frantically. “Won’t happen again, I promise!”


End file.
